With the larger and heavier combines and swathers of the present generation, the problem of holding the machine's header at a proper operating height above the ground has become more difficult. Current systems utilize electro-hydraulic controls which can be set for manual or automatic operation. The operating requirements for manual or automatic control must be responsive enough to raise the header from ground level to its maximum working height in approximately four seconds, as well as lowering the header in a similar time interval. This fast time response is necessary to maximize the crop intake while minimizing the chances of digging the header into the soil. Most present day combines include mechanical sensors under the cutter bar which sense the ground clearance and are connected through a mechanical linkage to contact switches which generate a raise or lower signal at each side of a dead band range. In the dead band range a neutral signal is given to the valve. A combine of the type just mentioned operating in an automatic mode becomes very unstable because when the header is raised the resulting acceleration stores energy in the combine's large pneumatic tires and overall mass. When the header is high enough to lose the raise signal, the combination of the moving header's inertia and the feedback of stored energy causes the header to overshoot the dead band and the sensor then generates a down signal. As the header drops, the down signal is lost as it enters the dead band but the inertia causes the tires to deflect, dropping the header close enough to the ground to trigger a raise signal and the up-and-down cycle repeats itself with the sensors searching for the dead band (neutral), while the machine rocks up and down. One of the most obvious solutions to this problem would be to expand the dead band area enough to prevent the header from overshooting its signal; however, this type of remedy is very limited if the cutting height on the crop is to be maintained at a maximum no larger than one inch. Some prior art remedies to this problem have been to limit the maximum flow rate to the system sufficiently that the automatic system becomes stable. However, as machine capacities and ground speeds increase, there is required an increased response capability of the control system to avoid the variances in ground terrain.